This invention relates to the field of heating and/or air-conditioning temperature control systems and more particularly to the automatic interior air temperature control of such systems for use in motor vehicles.
A known temperature control for automatic heating or air-conditioning systems presently available on the market has, besides the main air circulation fan, a separate small additional fan, mounted behind a motor vehicle dashboard outside of the interior compartment. This additional fan is installed solely for the determination of the respective actual value of the interior compartment air temperature. Through an opening in the dashboard, this additional fan draws in a small portion of the interior compartment air which thereby passes over a sensor located in the airstream behind the dashboard. The sensor is temperature-regulated in accordance with the interior temperature and thereby provides the relevant parameter value for controlling the automatic heating or air-conditioning system. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that it would be highly desirable to provide the control apparatus with a dual purpose fan such that an additional fan is unnecessary to provide the interior air temperature sensor.
The object of this invention is to provide a simpler, more compact design to supply interior air to the temperature sensor in an automatic heating or air-conditioning system. It is a further object of this invention to provide an effective, low-noise design to supply interior air to the temperature sensor of a heating or air-conditioning system.